The First Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia built a fort in La Cala de los Amigos (Friends Cove), and lived there for several years.
We do not have much news of the events occurred in there, but we do have an engraving of that time. Click on the link below to get a copy of said engraving and observe the scene thoroughly.
An inside view of the La Cala de los Amigos (Friends Cove) at the entrance to Nootka
Despite the ferocious-looking fort, we know that the garrison was only made up of around 18 men, and many times some of them embarked as escorts on ships that sailed those waters.
Fort
As the original name of this place suggests; La Cala de los Amigos (Friends Cove), their life was certainly pleasant and peaceful.
Their friends Nuu-chah-nulth, skillful whale hunters, provided them with abundant food, fat for their flashlights and wood from endless forests to heat their barracks.
Nuu-chah-nulth settlement
On the right, a canoe with many tribesmen wearing a picturesque hat, heading to some party.
Friends in ceremonial attires
When in the summer of 1791 Alejandro Malaspina stopped at that place, he was surprised that many locals had adopted the barretina tendency, which is a typical red hat worn by men in some parts of the Mediterranean Sea, certainly more comfortable than they vegetable hat.
In 1792, the English Captain George Vancouver sailed those waters and named Vancouver Island, and other places. He dubbed Spanish Banks, which today is a beautiful beach near the city of Vancouver.
George Vancouver
Through the Nootka Treaty, Spain transferred those lands to the British Crown, but members of the First Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia continued to live in Nootka’s paradise until 1792.
